I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

The apprentices around him were amazed, and Qingdeng was also amazed—amazed in his heart.

Wow, I've won the jackpot again!

After the system voice finished speaking in his mind, Qingdeng quickly brought up his personal system interface.

Name: Tachibana Aoto (?)

[Currently possessed talents:]

Night Vision, Sword Prodigy, Sleeping God, Lone Wolf

At the very end of the talent list, the two large Chinese characters "孤胆" (lone wolf) have been prominently displayed.

The more numerous and stronger the enemies, the more it ignites the fighting spirit and allows one to unleash extraordinary strength... This is yet another talent that sounds incredibly awesome just from the description.

When the "radical anti-foreign faction" kills, they often attack in groups.

They would send out several people to besiege one person, rarely engaging in one-on-one combat.

For Qingdeng, receiving this talent that allows him to become stronger when facing stronger opponents is a timely and much-needed boost.

Before Qing Deng could fully savor the joy of winning another big prize and gaining a new and powerful talent, Zhou Zhu's aged voice reached his ears.

"Beautiful technique!"

With a warm smile on his face, Zhou Zhu clapped his hands as he rose from the head of the dojo and slowly walked towards Qing Deng.

"Tachibana-kun, what kind of martial art did you use just now? It looks a bit like jujitsu to me, but it also seems quite different from jujitsu."

"This is a fighting technique passed down through generations in our family," Qing Deng lied skillfully.

"Hehehe..." Zhou Zhu raised his hand and touched his smooth chin, "Your family has a very outstanding unarmed combat technique..."

"If I'm not mistaken... the unarmed combat technique passed down in your family is specifically designed to attack the joints, acupoints, and vital points of the human body, right?"

“Exactly.” Qingdeng’s brow twitched in surprise.

Zhou Zhu smiled and continued:

"Yong lost just now because you exploited his joint weakness."

"With both arms locked in a position where it's difficult to exert force, no matter how much strength you have, you can't use it."

Looking at Zhou Zhu, who was speaking eloquently in front of him, Qing Deng's eyes kept flashing with surprise.

The old man, after only a brief glance at his sparring match with Kondo, immediately discerned the characteristics of the grappling technique he had used and why Kondo had ultimately lost to him…

"Hehehe... Tachibana-kun, you're much more amazing than I imagined."

After saying that, Zhou Zhu put his hands behind his back.

"Yong, bring me two bamboo swords."

Kondo is still massaging and relaxing his arms, which were still a little sore from being captured by Aoto.

Upon hearing Shusuke's order, Kondo, though puzzled, immediately replied respectfully, "Yes," and quickly took two bamboo swords, handing them to Shusuke.

After taking the two bamboo swords from Kondo, Shusuke briefly weighed them in his hands before tossing one of them to Aoto.

"Come on, Tachibana-kun."

Zhou Zhu smiled and held the sword in front of him.

"Next... let me see how good your swordsmanship is."

……

……

At this very moment—

"Hey, did you know? The murderer who killed Granny Ping was caught by the 'Three Returns' of the Northern Guard in less than an hour!"

"Less than an hour?"

"Yes, it is said to be a case solved by a man named Tachibana Aoto from the Hokuban-sho (Northern District Office) named Tachibana Aoto, who was involved in the case of the same name.

……

Due to limited criminal investigation technology, it is quite common for a case to take one or two months, or even several months, to be investigated.

The case was solved in less than an hour—a truly extraordinary event in the Edo period.

……

"The murderer has been caught by the Northern Police Station's 'Third Round,' and Granny Ping can finally rest in peace..."

"Grandma Ping was so kind! My son was seriously ill a few years ago, and we had no money for treatment. It was Grandma Ping and her husband who treated my son for free and saved him! Who was the beast who killed Grandma Ping?!"

"It is said to be Granny Ping's childhood sweetheart: Xun Sanlang."

"Kensaburo? Wasn't that guy always so honest? How could he kill someone?"

"Who knows? You can know a person's face but not their heart."

……

Granny Ping was highly respected. In the corner of Mokuyanagi-cho alone, more than half of the people had received help from her and her husband. They could not possibly remain indifferent to Granny Ping's murder.

In modern terms, the case of Granny Ping's murder is the kind of "high-profile event" that has attracted a lot of attention.

Since the arrival of America's Black Ships fleet seven years ago, almost nothing good has happened in this country.

The 12th Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyoshi, died of illness, and his successor, the 13th Shogun Tokugawa Iesada, was mentally challenged. To decide who should succeed him as the 14th Shogun, the Nanki faction and the Hitotsubashi faction fought endlessly. The struggle between the two factions finally came to an end, but the powerful ministerial style of the elder, Ii Naosuke, began to arouse considerable dissatisfaction among many people, led by Tenshōin.

Even setting aside matters of the court, the unpleasant things that happen in the marketplace are countless.

An increasingly sluggish economy, riots by "radical anti-foreigners," and a surge in unemployment due to social unrest...

In short: In recent years, the atmosphere permeating Edo has been unprecedentedly oppressive.

The Northern District Police Station's "three-round" investigation took less than an hour to solve such a high-profile case—a rare piece of "news from the living" that has excited the public in recent years.

This rare "news from the living" provided an outlet for the public's long-suppressed emotions.

Thus, the extraordinary story of solving the case in less than an hour, coupled with the high level of public attention to the case and the public's long-suppressed emotions needing an outlet, created a wonderful chemical reaction, leading to a massive influx of people spontaneously joining the discussion on the topic.

In the past two days, more and more people in the center of Koyanagi Town have begun to discuss this murder case that just ended not long ago.

Due to insufficient basic education in this era, the general public is not very bright and lacks judgment. As a result, all sorts of messy rumors have spread at an almost eerie speed in these two days...

……

"Hey, have you heard? Tongxin, the one who caught the beast who killed Granny Ping, didn't seem to have done very well at the Northern Garrison. He's even known as 'Dumbhead'."

"How did he suddenly become so powerful?"

"Who knows? Maybe it was through hard work and self-improvement that I honed my skills."

……

"Hey, did you hear? It seems that Tachibana Aoto went into Granny Ping's house, carefully studied the crime scene for a while, and figured out who killed Granny Ping."

"What? How did you do that?"

"Who knows! The Magistrate's Office will probably announce how Tachibana Aoto arrested people later."

……

"Hey, have you heard? That Tachibana Aoto is a man of great integrity! He used to be a terrible player in the Staunch Doshin team, so people nicknamed him 'Dumb-headed Aoto,' but he studied hard and honed his skills, and finally caught up. That's why he was able to solve today's case so brilliantly."

"Wow! Amazing! I never imagined that in this day and age there would still be such a spirited and courageous warrior!"

……

"Hey, did you hear? It seems that Ju Qingdeng only glanced at the crime scene after entering Granny Ping's house, and he knew who killed Granny Ping. He only stayed in Granny Ping's house for less than half an incense stick's time from beginning to end."

"Hmm? I heard that Ju Qingdeng didn't even step into Granny Ping's house?"

……

“Hey, did you hear? That Tachibana Seiden didn’t even go inside Granny Ping’s house! He just stood outside the crime scene, listened to his own officials report on the case, and deduced who the culprit was.”

"Yes, yes, I heard that's true too. He solved the case without even entering Grandma Ping's house!"

……

"Hey, have you heard? That Tachibana Aoto..."

……

"Hey, have you heard? That Tachibana Aoto..."

……

"Hey, have you heard? That Tachibana Aoto..."

……

Outside a confectionery shop in a certain town in Edo—

Okita hates people who go to crime scenes... especially to join in the fun at murder scenes.

They gathered around the crime scene like spectators at a play, standing on tiptoe and craning their necks to watch...

What's so interesting about it?!

Have you considered the feelings of the victim's family and friends...?

This is outrageous... This kind of behavior that disregards the feelings of the victim's family and friends...

Therefore, two days ago, after learning that a murder had occurred in the neighboring town of Mokuyanagi, Okita did not rush over to join the fun like those busybodies.

After watching Aoto leave, Okita stayed at the teahouse and continued to enjoy his favorite red bean buns.

After finishing the steamed buns, he silently returned to the Shiwei Hall alone and did not pay any more attention to Granny Ping's case.

Okita is a serious sweet tooth.

I feel uncomfortable all over if I don't eat konpeito for a day.

After noticing last night that he didn't have much konpeito left at home, he excitedly rushed to his favorite confectionery shop early this morning to buy his "daily necessities".

But his luck doesn't seem to be very good today.

When Okita arrived at his usual confectionery shop, all the konpeito (Japanese candy) were sold out.

Okita only liked the konpeito baked by this confectionery shop, so he had to wait patiently in the shop for the shop to bake a new batch of konpeito.